Friday, January 08, 2010

Handspun Friday - FatCatKnits 100% merino

This is my latest finished handspun yarn. This took me a while to finish. It's 9oz of fiber turned into yarn! I spin thin, so it takes me longer to get it done.
Both colorways are from FatCatKnits, but the darker colorway was part of November '09 fiber club, while the lighter colorway was in my fiber stash for some time.
When I started spinning, I had no clear idea on how to ply this, because there was 5oz of Fiber Club fiber, and only 4oz of the other colorway. It even took me a while to decide what colorway I would use to ply it with the Fiber Club.
I started with half of the 5oz, then spun the other colorway, and last the other half of the 5oz. By then I'd decided on a 3-ply, because no matter how and what I did, there was some singles left over either way.

FatCatKnits Mixed Blessings November 09 and FCK Fly Away 9oz project

There you have it: 100% merino

The big skein is ~ 612yds, 187g/6.5oz, 3-ply, fingering weight yarn.
The middle skein is ~ 222yds, 60g (2 1/8oz), navajo plied, fingering weight yarn.
The little one is ~ 50yds, 13g/ 0.5oz, navajo plied, fingering weight yarn.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with it! The big skein would make gorgeous socks, but as I've said before, I'm not knitting socks with merino or merino blends any more. Too many have gone to the garbage can, because they did not hold up well, to my (gentle) use.

It would be interesting if I could combine them all in one project, but so far I've not come up with an idea. The other thing is, both navajo plied yarns are much softer than the real 3-ply yarn.

Any suggestions?

***

17 comments:

2paw said...

I have no suggestions, but they are so pretty!! It should be something you can see and enjoy!!

Alexandra said...

They're all gorgeous! Amazing yarn :)

How about the Simple Yet Effective Shawl (fingering weight) by Laura Chau? It calls for 400 yards of fingering weight yarn and you could use all three!

Anonymous said...

I have started that 198 yds scarf thingey (see my rav page) that is knitting up quite nicely. Might be a nice choice...

lexa said...

Very pretty!

picperfic said...

lovely spinning Monika, especially love the middle one!

Virginia G said...

That is so beautiful! Love it.

I really want to learn how to spin, but I think I'm going to hold off until a little bit later in my knitting career.

hakucho said...

Very pretty...you have to find something you can wear...the colors are perfect for wearing with jeans. If you used all three together would it be enough for a vest of some sort?

knottygnome said...

great yarns! i love the colors. i bet a pretty shawl would be great in this yarn. you could combine them if you used a simple lace pattern, like the feather n fan comfort shawl.

Crystal said...

All three are gorgeous! I think you should make a striped vest out of them. Buy a nice deep purple or other coordinating colour for the ribbing or edging on the neckline, sleeves and bottom. If you don't have as much yarn as you would like for length, do a deeper ribbing for the bottom. But I think with the amount of yarn you spun you should be okay (not that I have any idea what size you would be knitting!).

Wanderingcatstudio said...

It would make some nice gloves....

Unknown said...

I think gloves/mittens would be beautiful.

Michelle said...

I so need to put in a FatCatKnits order this weekend!

Mr Puffy's Knitting Blog: said...

I LOVE them all! So interesting to see how different the spinning comes out.

Ideas??? Well, I knit a blanket for my parents with a kit from Fleece Artist that used 3 different textured yarns in coordinating colors. The pattern I used was a Cat Bordani (sp?). It came out very artistic and beautiful. No pictures because that was pre-blogging days.

Susan said...

The thought of using them all in one project knocks my socks off! I don't have any great pattern ideas for it though. Something patchwork style would be really pretty.

Sharon said...

That's some beautiful spinning you did there! The colors are lovely, so vibrant andp pretty.

As for ideas, there's too much yarn! You'd have to make a dozen fake isle hats with matching gloves or something!

hannah said...

You spin such beautiful yarn! I love the colours of the roving.

RC said...

wow! I'm so inspired by your spinning. I finally remembered to take a pic of a batt before I spun only to forget to take a good pic of the finished yarn before a friend grabbed it up ;) one of these days it will all come together